Man charged with killing parents wants to use mom's estate to pay lawyer

By Carl Hessler Jr., The Mercury

Posted:
03/06/2013 06:28:19 AM PST

Updated:
03/06/2013 07:21:08 AM PST

NORRISTOWN, Pa. - A suburban Philadelphia man accused of fatally stabbing his parents and twin brother wants to use his dead mother's $1 million estate to pay for his defense and psychiatrists to treat his alleged mental illness.

Joseph C. McAndrew Jr., through his court-appointed guardian, filed papers in Montgomery County Orphans Court on Monday requesting access to the funds of the estate of his mother Susan C. McAndrew "for the purpose of retaining counsel and expert forensic psychiatrists so as to defend against the charges."

Joseph McAndrew Jr., accused in the fatal stabbibg of his parents, is led into District Justice William Maruszczak's court in Upper Merion on Sept. 16, 2011. (Photo by Gene Walsh / Times Herald)

Hylan also has asked that the criminal proceedings against McAndrew be stayed pending the outcome of the request in Orphans Court.

"It's completely frivolous. It's baseless. It does nothing to advance justice in this case and it's filed by an individual who has no standing in the criminal matter," reacted Assistant District Attorney Nathan Schadler, who is assisting Deputy District Attorney Kevin Steele with prosecuting McAndrew. "We are going to be making sure that justice is done and that this case moves forward at an appropriate speed."

Schadler vowed to fight Hylan's request for a delay of the criminal proceedings against McAndrew.

"We will not allow this meritless application to deride or derail our quest for justice for these three individuals," said Schadler, referring to the victims.

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If an Orphans Court judge grants McAndrew access to the estate funds, Hylan indicated he will seek to retain private counsel of McAndrew's choice and private psychiatrists of McAndrew's choice.

Additionally, the guardian "will endeavor to place the defendant into a secure private psychiatric institution," Hylan wrote in court papers. Hylan claimed McAndrew previously has been examined by two doctors in preparation for trial.

"They have concluded the defendant to have been criminally insane at the time of the incident," Hylan wrote in court papers.

McAndrew, 24, is awaiting trial on multiple charges of first- and third-degree murder in connection with a March 5, 2011, incident during which he allegedly wielded a sword to stab to death his parents, 70-year-old Joseph C. McAndrew, 64-year-old Susan C. McAndrew, as well as his twin brother James McAndrew.

The victims, according to court documents, were found on the kitchen floor of the family's Upper Merion home soon after McAndrew was seen standing outside near the garage door. His pants and shoes were covered with blood, police said. Investigators discovered a bloody sword with an 18-inch blade in the living room, court papers indicate.

Prosecutors alleged the fatal attack involved a "very significant struggle" and a chase through the house.

Last April, a judge appointed Pottstown area defense lawyer Paul A. Bauer III to represent McAndrew at trial because McAndrew was considered indigent at the time of his arrest. Bauer previously filed a notice of insanity or mental infirmity defense on behalf of McAndrew.

"It is believed that providing (McAndrew) access to the estate would allow him to retain counsel of his choice and thereby relieve the taxpayers of the financial burden of providing court-appointed counsel," Hylan argued in court papers.

"It is believed that providing (McAndrew) access to the estate would advance the presumptive intent of his parents to care and provide for their son," Hylan added.

Should McAndrew gain access to his mother's estate, Hylan said he would reimburse Montgomery County for all the expenses it incurred in providing McAndrew a court-appointed lawyer and mental health providers.

In court papers, Hylan argued Susan McAndrew "was presumed to have survived her husband" and her son, James. Since Susan McAndrew died intestate, McAndrew is an heir to her estate, Hylan argued.

However, under Pennsylvania's so-called Slayer's Act, a killer cannot in any way acquire property or receive any benefit as a result of the victim's death.

But Hylan maintained McAndrew "is being denied his inheritance without having been determined to be the slayer."

"Unless (McAndrew) is adjudged guilty of the charges against him, (McAndrew) will be deemed the sole heir of the estate of Susan C. McAndrew and, as such, be entitled to inherit the estate," Hylan wrote in court papers.

In December, the court-appointed administrator of Susan McAndrew's estate filed an accounting indicating the victim left an estate with a gross value of about $1 million. The funds are in the custody and control of the administrator, court documents indicate.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against McAndrew if he is convicted of first-degree murder, which is an intentional killing. Third-degree murder, a killing committed with malice, can carry a possible maximum sentence of 20-to-40 years in prison. McAndrew's trial is tentatively slated to get under way later this year before Judge Gary S. Silow.

McAndrew, through Bauer in previously filed court papers, notified court officials that "he may present a defense of insanity at trial."

"If he presents such a defense, evidence will be presented that the defendant suffers from a disease of the mind, namely paranoid schizophrenia, and that his disease rendered him incapable of knowing the nature and the quality of his act, or rendered him incapable of knowing what he was doing was wrong," Bauer wrote in court documents.

Under state law, a person determined to be not guilty by reason of insanity would be committed to a mental institution where he would receive treatment and periodic evaluations. Once that person is deemed "cured," he would be released from the institution with no requirement to serve any jail time.

Since his arrest, McAndrew has been held in the Regional Forensic Psychiatric Center at the Norristown State Hospital, where he has received intensive psychiatric treatment, or at the county jail.